Difference: Summary Review
This is a summary review of Difference containing key details about the book.
What is Difference About?
Difference lifts the lid on how brands like Airbnb, Uber and Apple have succeeded by creating difference and gives you a new one-page method for reimagining your business and reinventing your marketing. It helps you to recognize opportunities that create value, to develop products and services that people want, and to matter to your customers.
Who is the author of Difference?
Bernadette Jiwa is an Irish Australian author who began her writing apprenticeship as a blogger and non-fiction writer in her mid-forties. In 2019 she embarked on writing her debut novel, THE MAKING OF HER, which will be published in 2022.
What are good quotes from Difference?
“how the now-ubiquitous humble shopping cart was invented and adopted eighty years ago. Sylvan Goldman, a grocery store owner from Oklahoma, noticed that when his customers’ baskets became too heavy or too full, people stopped shopping. Clearly their problem was his problem, too. He began to think of ways to improve the experience for his customers. In 1936 he came up with the idea of a basket carrier on wheels.”
“THE TEN CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENCE THINKERS They practice empathy because they care enough to make an impact. They have a clear sense of the change they want to make in the world. They are impatient about tactics and endlessly patient about implementing their strategy. They ask the right questions, and that means that they talk more than twice as much as they listen, because talking takes guts. Mostly, they ignore those who offer empty criticism. They watch what people do and don’t just believe what people tell them. They innovate and create at the edges, ignoring the market of everyone. They make products for their customers, instead of trying to find customers for their products. They understand that they need to give people a story to tell—a ‘you’ve gotta see this’ moment. They work hard to change how people feel, by creating intangible value that gives them an emotional point of difference. They understand that trust is their second-most valuable asset. The first is the willingness to be wrong for the right reason.”
“Not only is there no longer a mass market, but most of the successful companies, game-changing innovations, and products and services we care about were designed to cater to people at the edges of that curve, not to the average Joe in the middle of it.”
“Difference thinking’ is more than the ability to connect the dots, though. It’s about seeing the truth, recognising the opportunity in that truth and then acting on it. You need to learn how to see the dots and understand the significance of connecting them before you can begin.”
“the masses don’t want to feel like ‘the masses’.”
“When you go the extra mile, people will know, and that knowing changes everything about how they feel about what you do.”
“The truth is that what really moves us is feelings, not facts.”
“give them a reason to care, a story they can believe in.”
“As soon as we open our eyes in the morning, what we want most is to matter, to live a life and to do a work that has meaning. We have evolved to feel this way. Man's first thought was 'I AM'.”
“It isn’t the person with the best idea who wins; it’s the person who has the greatest understanding of what really matters to people.”
“And increasingly what they care about is what the choices they make, and the things they consume, buy, share, or relate to, say about them.”
“what differentiates a good anything from a great anything you care to think about (business, movie, hotel, product, blog, book, packaging, design, app, talk, school, song, art… keep going) is that the great stuff, the things we give a damn about, have the heart left in them.”
Book details
- Print length: 110 pages
- Genre: Business, Nonfiction, Entrepreneurship
What are the chapters in Difference?
Chapter 1: Our Marketing-Made World
Chapter 2: Our Bell Curve Is Melting
Chapter 3: Made To Matter
Chapter 4: The Difference Model
What do critics say?
Here's what one of the prominent reviewers had to say about the book: "Have you wondered about that 'certain something' that makes an extraordinary business? Bernadette's stylish little book is that 'certain something' explained." — Mark Schaefer, Author of Return on Influence
* The summary points above have been concluded from the book and other public sources. The editor of this summary review made every effort to maintain information accuracy, including any published quotes, chapters, or takeaways
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
